NFL camp teaches youths more than football
80 participants learn about character, integrity and discipline

Coach John Montgomery puts on a mock scowl as he directs the helmeted players through a blocking drill. - College Football -
“You’ve got to be disciplined to play football. I ain’t happy. I ain’t happy. Bend your knees,” he says.
Pointing at a player waiting to run the drill, he shouts, “Put that helmet back on.”
The Benedict College offensive line coach is giving about 80 Columbia youths a taste of what it might be like to play football in college or for the pros, and they like it.
While the participants come for football, organizers want them to leave understanding how important character, discipline, integrity and learning to “hang around with the right kind of kids” are to success, said Benedict head coach John Hendrick, who presides over the NFL-sponsored camp. - College Football -
Farington Huguenin, a 13-year-old from Columbia, puts his hands forward, his shoulder down, and charges Collins Cornwell, 14, of Irmo. Cornwell ends up on the ground. They dust themselves off and go to the back of the line to await another round.
Collins said the 10-day NFL Junior Player Development camp is a great opportunity for aspiring football players to learn some of the discipline and fundamentals of the game.
“They make sure you do what you are capable of doing,” he said.
And Farington said the Benedict College coaching staff, who run the camp, are very helpful, despite their sometimes gruff manner. - College Football -
“If you don’t get it, they try to help you learn how to do it,” he said.
It’s a tough program to endure when the thermometer still sits at 90 degrees at 6 p.m., when the camp starts. But the coaches make sure the young people take time to cool off. When break time comes, some want to continue tossing the football. - College Football -
“Hey, break means break. Get down on a knee and let your body cool down,” Hendrick yells.
The National Football League provides the helmets, shoulder pads, jerseys, sweat bands and an equipment bag with a bright NFL logo. The youths, for whom the camp is free, get to keep the clothing and the bag; the helmets and pads go back to the NFL for another group of campers another year. - College Football -
The NFL started the program, Hendrick said, because participation in football among inner-city youth was declining. The NFL has guidelines for the program. It requires, for example, that every youth in the program learns the fundamentals of every position on a football team. The program also includes lessons for life. - College Football -
Hendrick said Benedict College decided to take over the program when the high school coaches in South Carolina opted out of it. In addition to giving several dozen inner-city kids an outlet for their interest in football, it also allows Hendrick to give them a glimpse at Benedict’s young football program, which only began conference play three years ago. - College Football -
One of the most enthusiastic participants is 14-year-old Kevin Adams of Columbia. Sometimes he watches the other boys run the drills, and sometimes one of the coaches will push his wheelchair through the drills. Coach Hendrick spends a few minutes tossing passes back and forth with the boy who, despite his cerebral palsy, aspires to one day be a football coach.
Kevin’s mother, Geneva, said the football camp is the highlight of the boy’s summer. And Hendrick said he hopes to “involve Kevin in some way in Benedict College football.”
Geneva Adams said the NFL program is important because it “teaches the children a lot of discipline. They learn to work as a team.” - College Football -
When break-time ends, Hendrick blows his shrill whistle for drills to resume, and most of the boys dodge the dragonflies patroling the practice fields to get back in line.
“Hey, why are you walking,” Hendrick yells at a few slow-moving boys, “Hustle!”

JAMES T. HAMMOND